Across the country, we’re seeing the growing impacts of extreme heat, and workers are among those on the frontlines. As temperatures rise, so do the dangers of heat-related illness, injury, and death on the job. Yet protections often lag behind, leaving millions of indoor and outdoor workers at risk.

Guest host Cheryl Holder sits down with Charlotte Brody, a registered nurse and the Vice President of Health Initiatives for the BlueGreen Alliance, and David Michaels, former Assistant Secretary of Labor for OSHA, to talk about the dangers of extreme heat in the workplace, what solutions are needed to protect workers, and why a strong OSHA heat standard is vital.

Additional Resources:

Week of Action to Protect Workers from Extreme Heat: https://www.heatjusticenow.org/

Checklist For A Model Heat Illness Prevention Rule: https://www.bluegreenalliance.org/resources/checklist-for-a-model-heat-illness-prevention-rule/

Economic Benefits of a Workplace Heat Standard: https://www.bluegreenalliance.org/resources/economic-benefits-of-workplace-heat-standards/

Support our work and become a member of the Consortium by visiting http://bit.ly/member-mscch

Healthy Climate America is produced by Lucy Walker. Our podcast interns are Isaias Segui and Mathilda Tataw. Savannah Martincic is our manager of communication. A sincere thank you to Adam Karl for his support in the editing process. Our music was composed by James Harp.

On the first episode of our Summer Series, Lisa Patel sits down with Marc Futernic, an emergency medicine physician in California (and future Summer Series host!). Listen along as they lay the groundwork on the health harms of extreme heat and what health professionals and patients might need to know as temperatures rise.

Referenced this episode:

Heat and Learning: Evidence from 21 million PSAT Scores: https://ph.ucla.edu/news-events/news/hot-classrooms-us-negatively-impact-learning

Ambient outdoor heat and accelerated epigenetic aging among older adults in the US: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adr0616

Support our work and become a member of the Consortium by visiting http://bit.ly/member-mscch

Healthy Climate America is produced by Lucy Walker. Our podcast interns are Isaias Segui and Mathilda Tataw. Savannah Martincic is our manager of communication. A sincere thank you to Adam Karl for his support in the editing process. Our music was composed by James Harp.

From Los Angeles to Lahaina, wildfires are increasing in frequency and severity. The destruction is evident: destroyed homes, devastated communities, lives lost. But the health harms firefighters face often go unseen.

As firefighters work day in and day out on the frontlines, they expose themselves to chronic health risks that rarely make headlines. At the same time, cuts to fire prevention funding threaten their ability to respond safely and effectively.

Host Lisa Patel sits down with Lazo Gitchos, a wildland firefighter and writer for The Nation, to talk about the hidden health risks of firefighting, and the resources crews need to better protect themselves and communities.